Super Mario Bros
Hey, Do You Remember...?
Christopher Schrader
4.8 • 676 Ratings
🗓️ 2 August 2013
⏱️ 86 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There's no beating around the bush with this one... Super Mario Bros. is a pretty epic misfire. None of us liked it that much as kids, but Chris thought the bizarre choices the filmmakers made were so fascinating that it was worth a discussion.
In this episode, we look back at the property's odd journey from video game to silver screen and wonder if there was ever going to be a good version of this film. We also wind up having a larger discussion about adaptations in general and how closely they should stick to their source material. Is Mario Bros. divergence from the games ultimately what sinks it? We're not so sure.
And then we wrap things up with a new game from Donna called Who Would You Be & Who Would You F?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, do you remember... |
| 0:03.3 | Super Mario Brothers. |
| 0:30.6 | Hello, and welcome to Hey Do You Remember, a show where we reminisce about a movie or TV series we grew up with and then take off the rose tints of glasses to see how it holds up today. |
| 0:31.5 | I'm Chris. |
| 0:32.5 | I'm Donna. |
| 0:33.8 | And I'm Carlos. |
| 0:36.9 | And today we're revisiting Super Mario Brothers. They're brothers. They're plumbers. |
| 0:40.3 | Oh no. |
| 0:42.3 | Mario! |
| 0:43.3 | Bleaky! |
| 0:44.3 | They're on the trail of a kidnapped princess and a mystical meteorite. |
| 0:50.3 | It's incredible! |
| 0:52.3 | Super Mario Brothers is a spectacularly misguided adaptation of Nintendo's most recognizable brand. |
| 0:58.0 | In fact, even calling it an adaptation seems inaccurate because this film has absolutely |
| 1:02.0 | fuck all to do with this video game counterpart. |
| 1:05.0 | But how large a factor was that in its critical and commercial failure? |
| 1:09.0 | Could there really have been a decent movie based on a |
| 1:11.1 | product with such a bare-bones narrative? Was it doomed from the start, or was it the director's |
| 1:15.5 | nihilistic cyberpunk vision clashing with the studio's desire for a kid-friendly franchise that |
| 1:20.8 | ultimately sunk this ship? How closely should an adaptation stick to its source material? And in the |
| 1:26.0 | case of Super Mario Brothers, is that divergence really what made it such an epic misfire? |
| 1:30.5 | We're about to get into it, but first, Donna. |
... |
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